The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26

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    Can't wait to see a vid of you playing this jewel, Jonathan.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #27

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    Did any of these come from that Guernsey auction ? I seem to remember reading somewhere that Crandall purchased one, maybe several, just not sure they were L-10's.

    And just curious - - were the necks ' '30's ok ', or '30's baseball bats' ??

    Thx

  4. #28

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
    Richard, campusfive said he played two of the three. The 1934 L10 ($3995) was not one of them that he played so I thought I would skip that one.
    Hi Jab. Good catch! I forgot that Jonathan had played only two of the three. The forum search function works again, so I quickly found the thread again:
    https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/guita...tml#post543348

  5. #29

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    Congrats Jonathan!

  6. #30

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    This forum is horrible for me, an endless parade of beautiful vintage Gibson archtops and other greats like D'Angelico



    ....keep em' coming.

  7. #31

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    I'm in Washington DC right now playing for the International Lindy Hop Championships, and very ridiculously brought both my '32 Deluxe (in a Calton), and the L-5 (in a Hoffee). A friend of mine here is both an excellent 30's-40's piano player and jazz guitar player, and I hooked him up with an '39 ES-150 I found last year, so I'm borrowing his 150 also, and he's playing piano on the gig. He also brought his '51 L-7 (which sounds great) along for comparison sake. He spent a couple hours between soundcheck and downbeat in my hotel room checking out all the guitars.

    It was fascinating to hear all three played by somebody else, and how great they all sounded. My previous experience with the X-braced vs. Parallel braced guitars ('35 L-12 vs. '32 Deluxe) was that you could have projection/cut or you could have warmth/bottom end and sustain, but that they were more or less mutually exclusive. The L-5 seems to hit that sweet spot between tonal quality/warmth/bottom end and cut/projection. On sheer projection, I think the Deluxe still wins, but the L-5 is no slouch and doesn't have the problem of getting lost in a bigger band.

    Last night we did 4 horns, 4 rhythm, and I played the L-5 all night, except for the electric solos/riffs on the 150. But the afterhours acoustic jam I mostly played the Epi, and only switched to the L-5 for the last song or two. Since we're doing a big band tonight, I'm guessing I might switch back and forth between the L-5 and Epi just to hear the differences. You know... for science.

  8. #32

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    I'd be interested to hear how you perceived the differences between the x-braced 1935 Advanced L-12 and the parallel braced 1951 L-7.

  9. #33

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    CampusFive,
    You've now got one foot in the collector's world. Enjoy your treasures.

  10. #34

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    "The L-5 seems to hit that sweet spot between tonal quality/warmth/bottom end and cut/projection."

    If the overly critical guitar buying clientele of today could go back in time to 1935, or maybe we wouldn't figure it out til the 40s - I dunno - we would bitch at Gibson for messing up the L-5. Sure, the Advanced models were louder, bigger, and sexy. But the original L-5 was a more complete, genre-defying instrument. It was not just a Big Band guitar. It did everything well - soft, loud, brash, gentle - the works. Once the electric pickup came out, though, the original acoustic vision of Mr. Loar's was ultimately doomed.

    That is why they are special, and pretty isolated in the archtop evolution until very modern times when luthiers began to explore possibilities beyond the historical stereotypes.

    I realize this is opinionated, but I've reflected on it a lot and the subject fascinates me.

  11. #35

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    Quote Originally Posted by rpguitar
    "The L-5 seems to hit that sweet spot between tonal quality/warmth/bottom end and cut/projection."

    If the overly critical guitar buying clientele of today could go back in time to 1935, or maybe we wouldn't figure it out til the 40s - I dunno - we would bitch at Gibson for messing up the L-5. Sure, the Advanced models were louder, bigger, and sexy. But the original L-5 was a more complete, genre-defying instrument. It was not just a Big Band guitar. It did everything well - soft, loud, brash, gentle - the works. Once the electric pickup came out, though, the original acoustic vision of Mr. Loar's was ultimately doomed.

    That is why they are special, and pretty isolated in the archtop evolution until very modern times when luthiers began to explore possibilities beyond the historical stereotypes.

    I realize this is opinionated, but I've reflected on it a lot and the subject fascinates me.
    I've played a good number of vintage 17" guitars from builders such as Epiphone, Gibson, and D'Angelico, but I haven't had the pleasure of sitting down with a professional grade 16" instrument from the swing era. There just aren't as many of them as their 17" big brothers.

    On the other hand, I wouldn't want to fall in love with a 16" and suddenly become dissatisfied with the three 17" Epiphones in my collection.

  12. #36

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    So here's something fun... I was messing around with Garageband and recorded a pass of "Ain't Misbehavin'" with each of my three vintage acoustic archtops: '32 L-5, '35 L-12, '32 De Luxe - trading every two bars, in that order.



    But I though that merely hearing the chord melody in alternating two-bar segments was a bit of an insufficient test of the full range of each. So then I recorded a pass of rhythm guitar on "Cherry" on each guitar, followed by a pass on lead on each guitar. Rather than attempting to mix something out of it myself, I figured I'd just post the garageband file, so anybody who wants to can mix and match the guitars for rhythm and lead, and see how each fares.

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/wbm4lrudsu....band.zip?dl=0

    These were all recorded with a Blue Yeti 6"-10" off the sound board.

  13. #37

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    Quote Originally Posted by campusfive
    So here's something fun... I was messing around with Garageband and recorded a pass of "Ain't Misbehavin'" with each of my three vintage acoustic archtops: '32 L-5, '35 L-12, '32 De Luxe - trading every two bars, in that order.
    Oh man they all sound nice, but listening to that clip you gotta admit that the De Luxe has an especially sweet tone

  14. #38

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    Wonderful Jonathan. You sound great on all of them. I can't decide if I prefer the L-5 or the Deluxe. I think you'd better send them over to me so I can investigate in person . Should only take me a few months.

    Cheers, Chris

  15. #39

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    Just saw that Norm is in a hospital recovering from surgery. Rare cancer: appendiceal neoplasms. Hope to hear good news about it soon.

  16. #40

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    Quote Originally Posted by lammie200
    Just saw that Norm is in a hospital recovering from surgery. Rare cancer: appendiceal neoplasms. Hope to hear good news about it soon.
    Let's hope (and pray). The good new is they're doing some miraculous things these days. A friend of mine is fully recovering from disastrous pancreatic.

    Pancreatic Cancer | Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center - Buffalo, NY

  17. #41

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    Off topic of guitars, I saw on Norm's instagram page that he recently underwent surgery for appendiceal cancer and had a couple of stented heart attacks post-operatively. Sending some positive vibes for him!

    Doh- missed your post above Lammie.

  18. #42

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    big time prayers for Norm
    I met him in 1974 when he had a little shop on Reseda I bought my first guitar from him it was a 1937 00-17 it needed a neck reset but it was really nice once I got all that done to it it
    was a sweet player

    big-time prayers for you Norm you’re one hell of a guy

    BigMike

  19. #43

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    Sometimes Norm can be a bit much, but he seems to have Big Heart for people, especially the homeless and fellow guitarists!
    Hope he gets well soon!

  20. #44

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    Thanks for posting this thread I found it interesting and informative.

  21. #45

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    Any recent news on Norm?

  22. #46

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    Hey Campus, FYI my niece loves to come swing dance to your band when you come anywhere near our region.

  23. #47

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    Quote Originally Posted by Greentone
    Any recent news on Norm?